Sea on Fire
by ChevalierAirumel
Summary: Brought together by the search for a sister and a tidal wave, can Karst and Peirs work out thier own problems and possibly find more in eachother? ONESHOT. Rated T just because of revenge issues. The story mainly follows Karst.


_****_

A note before you start:

Golden Sun is my favorite game of all time and my sister is the one who put me up to this. Afterall, it's pure crack the likes of which the world has never seen. Well, I hope you enjoy this! Please review/comment afterwards!!! Thanks! -Airi

* * *

**Sea on Fire**

A mid-afternoon sun shone brightly down upon the port town of Madra in between showers of rain. Shop keepers and fishermen bustled about in the busy streets all trying to make as much money as they could.

"Look you, can't you bring the price down? I have a long journey ahead of me and I can't afford to pay such ludicrous prices for this."

At one shop stall, all eyes were on a young woman, the likes of which no one had ever seen. She was dressed in tall black boots, with matching black gloves, and a pink and black tunic. Her hair was dark magenta, uncommon, yet not unheard of. But what was causing all the attention, aside from her squabbling with the shop keeper, was her skin. It was a shade of pink, normally seen in spring flowers.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't lower the prices; with these disasters happening, it's becoming harder and harder to get enough to support my family, let alone stock the store." The girl muttered something under her breath about a village falling of the world, but the shop keeper ignored her and looked at the basket of supplies in her hand. "So, are you going to pay for that?"

A look of utter disgust crossed her face as she rummaged through her purse to find the adequate amount of gold. Before handing the gold over she held the coins tightly in her fist as if hesitating on the whole matter. "Here," she dropped the shiny coins into his open palms and rushed off angrily towards the harbor without a backwards glance.

"Ow," moaned the shop keeper as he dropped the coins on the ground. He looked at them and then back to his hand; red lines from the coins marked his hand. They'd been too hot to handle, but how?

---

The young lady had put her supplies away on her ship and double checked the knots securing her ship to the harbor. Something about today was bothering her. It felt like a lead weight looming over her ready to crush her spirit. "As if my situation isn't bad enough," she muttered through gritted teeth as she re-tied a knot just to be safe. "The whole world's about to be destroyed and all these morons can think about is money." She sighed and stood up after inspecting her work. "What would you say sister?" she wondered. A smirk crossed her face as she mocked her older sister "Karst, you should have burned that man's stall to the ground! That'd serve him!" Karst was silent for a moment before she let out another sigh, she'd left her frozen hometown of Prox just over a month ago with her friend Agaito in search of her sister Menardi, but as of yet, hadn't found her. She and Agaito had split up after a failing to find her nearby the Venus Lighthouse.

The sky had become dark again and the sea was starting to pick up its intensity. Karst, although not as smart as her sister in the affairs of sailing, knew that this wasn't a good time to be sailing out of the harbor. Checking that she had a little spare change over from buying supplies, she set out into town again, this time headed for the tavern.

---

"Welcome!" shouted a waitress upon Karst's entrance.

The traveler from Prox nodded a return greeting and ignoring the odd look from the greeter and everyone else, proceeded over to the counter.

"May I get you something?" asked the man attending the bar, clearly trying his best not to gape at the strange woman in front of him.

Karst analyzed the bartender carefully; he was dressed quite nicely. Come to think of it, so was the greeter. And places with fancy dressed staff always had prices to match. "Hot coca, if you have it. Otherwise tea will be fine."

The bartender looked at her like she was crazy. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't get the chance as Karst's fire red eyes caught his dull brown ones. The message they sent was clear; "Mess with me and perish." He gulped and rushed off to the back room.

A few minutes later he returned with a cup of luke-warm tea and an apology for how long it'd taken to get it. Karst paid no attention to his words and put the few coins on the counter before accepting the cup. She wasn't surprised in the least that it was tea they'd served her. A faint smile crossed her face as she warmed up her cup in her hand.

"Interesting choice of drink for this time of year," a voice to her right spoke.

Karst jumped, sloshing her hot tea in every direction.

"My apologies. I did not intend to startle you," the source of voice was a well muscled young man with a turquoise hair tied back in a pony tail under which a large bandana cover his shoulders. He stared at the mess of tea water dripping off the counter. "I'll clean that up," he offered to the bartender. But, when he looked back at the counter the mess was gone. "Well, er, I mean, I'll buy her another."

Karst had seized the opportunity when the man and bartender were talking to evaporate the tea. Knowing that there was no way he wouldn't have noticed the sudden lack of spilled tea, she got up to leave silently. She didn't get far before a gentle grip on her arm stopped her.

"I said I'd get you another one, so don't take off," the man's yellow eyes peered directly into her red ones. "Please?" he asked gently.

Karst rolled her eyes. "Fine." She sat back down and waited.

Again the bartender came and presented her with a cold cup of tea. The man sitting next to her ordered a glass of water and watched her.

She sighed for yet another time that day before heating the cup with the power of Mars.

"Thought so," he said suddenly.

"Thought what?" Karst asked incredulously; this man was wearing at her already minimal patience. If he didn't want to end up as a pile of ash soon, he'd better stop bothering her.

"You're an adept."

"Oh? And I suppose that makes you one too," now that she looked him over more carefully, it was clear he also had the aura of an adept. "And a Mercury adept none the less. Interesting, I thought they were all but extinct."

"As I did about other adepts," he gave her a gentle smile as the waiter served his drink. "I've been finding all sorts of adepts lately; it gives me hope that all is not lost."

"Other adepts?" she asked, the faint flicker of hope that her sister was one of the people he spoke of began to kindle itself deep in her heart. "Did you see another woman like me, but with blonde hair and a bit taller?" Her red eyes shone with the fires of her hope.

"Like you?" he repeated the question to himself, "No, sorry, I think I would have remembered seeing someone with your unique uh… coloring." He had hesitated on the last part not trying to sound mean.

"Oh, I see…" she went back to staring into the shallow depths of her tea cup.

"I'm sorry, is she important to you?"

"Yes, she's my one and only sister," Karst laughed icily.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, sorry, I find this entirely odd. Here I am in a hurry, trying to find my sister and all, but I find myself stuck in a tavern spilling my life's story to a perfect stranger."

The turquoise haired man laughed too, "Yeah, I guess I could say the same," he looked out the window. It was raining now and the streets were devoid of any activity save for the occasion person running from shop to shop trying to keep dry. "Where I'm from, we don't have many people, I guess you could say I'm outgoing just because I'm curious."

"Really?" Karst asked in a slight monotone, "I guess that's another thing we have in common. I'm from the far North. Farther than you've ever heard of too."

The man gave a light chuckle, "I'm afraid you'd find there are many places I've never heard of. And you'd never believe me if I were to tell you from where I hail."

The two were silent for awhile, neither really wanted to say much about their home town. Instead they drank in silence and stared out the window hoping the rain would stop.

A few minutes passed and the man got up after finishing his drink. "Well, I really do need to get going now; it was nice meeting you, Miss Mars Adept."

"Karst," she informed him.

"My name is Piers." He held out a hand for a hand shake, but Karst didn't look up from her tea. Smiling slightly to himself, he paid for the drinks and left the tavern into the rain.

Karst thought about the odd man she'd just met and smiled a little to herself before remembering the overwhelming sense of doom she'd felt earlier. Maybe it'd all been her imagination after all.

---

The rain stopped an hour later. Karst exited the tavern to a beautiful sight. She'd discovered the beauty of rain showers, having only ever seen the white of snow in Prox. While the rain, when it came was quite dismal, afterwards was beautiful. She loved how the sunlight reflected off the glistening wet roofs and the water dripping down into the street. Maybe this was what spring was like?

As she walked further into town, however, her sense of dread came back full force. A flare of hope came up as she saw a familiar face exiting a building. "Felix!" she called over to him. But the sense of dread quickly swallowed up the hope as she did not see her sister among their group. "Where's Menardi?" was the only question on her mind as she looked on. So blinded by this question she was that she completely overlooked a certain turquoise haired man.

He didn't over look her though. Throughout the conversation, as Karst and the other members of his group called back and forth about Mendardi's whereabouts, his eyes lay on her. He'd felt rude at the tavern to stare at her, but here, that wasn't the case. She really was different, he noted. Her pink skin was scaly from her shoulders and across the exposed parts of her neck. Her fire red eyes burned with rage and fury at the answers she was receiving. But instead of finding himself disgusted with this odd human, if she really was such a being, he found her to be… well... quite… he wasn't sure what he thought, or so he was going to tell himself.

"Are you telling you my sister is DEAD?" she asked, "Who then, is responsible for this?"

Piers watched and found himself overwhelmed by the sadness and rage welling up inside of the young woman with whom he'd had a pleasant encounter with mere hours ago. What must it have been like for her, to come all this way only to find the one she was seeking gone forever. The pain she was experiencing, Piers could not fathom.

---

"Dead. Lying at the bottom of the sea. Dead; as in not coming back. Ever," thoughts ran rampant through the young woman's head as she untied the knots that tethered her ship to the port. Angry tears streamed down her face as her heart ached worse than anything she thought possible. And that good for nothing Isaac. He'd pay. That was certain. An eye for an eye. A life for a life. Karst didn't realize how worked up she was getting until the rope she was hastily untying burst into flames in her hands. She dropped it into the water hastily to avoid unwanted attention.

"Oy, Karst! Don't be burning all the ropes we need those," a voice from inside the ship spoke.

"Agaito?" she responded recognizing the voice, "When did you get back?"

A blue skinned man leaned over the side rail of the ship, "Just after you left from shopping."

"Why didn't you come and find me?"

"Didn't feel like it."

Karst didn't respond and came on board the ship. Agatio was her childhood friend and she knew that he'd just been too lazy to bother with her as usual. It was times like this that she wished she could have better company. Like her sister. "No, I mustn't think about that," she muttered angrily.

One look at his companion's face was all he needed to understand what was wrong. "Saturos too?"

Karst yelled in agony briefly from her companion's lack of tact with questions before storming off to the bridge. Anyone's company would be better than this idiot's! Like that Piers she'd met earlier. At least he was polite unlike this jerk. She opened the door to the bridge to find another person on her ship. "Oh ho! What do we have here, a stow-away? This won't do. It's your unlucky day, I happen to be quite angry at the moment," Karst summoned fire at the intruder without even letting him have time to think. A wall of water suddenly doused her flames. "What the-"

"Is this the standard greeting in Prox or something?" a sarcastic response came from the man she had attempted to incinerate. His long blue hair was straight and ran down way past his shoulders.

"Agaito! Why is there a Mercury Adept on our ship?!" yelled Karst. That stupid Agaito never told her anything.

"Oh, sorry!" he called back, "That's Alex, I met him in town, he was a companion of Saturos and Menardi as well."

"But why is he on MY ship?" Karst would have burned her companion to a pile of dust if she could have, but he, like her was pretty much fire-proof.

"Why, I'm here to help! Getting the lighthouses lit is my only goal," he replied cheerily with a smile.

Karst wondered if that was really his true intentions.

"Now can we get going?"

Already, Karst hated this Mercury adept. She bit her tongue as she steered the ship out of the dock and into the sea. Another ship, much further out, was about to disappear on the horizon. As she stared at it she wondered if the kind man she'd met earlier was on it and if they'd ever meet again.

---

A time span of three weeks passed before the Mars and Mercury adepts would cross paths again. The encounter would never have happened if Alex, the annoying free-loader as Karst mentally dubbed him, hadn't insisted in a stop in Champa.

As soon as they docked in the harbor, Karst noticed a ship, almost identical to her sister's Lemurian ship, but it was colored a bit differently. She blotted out the thoughts of her sister with her acquaintance of that fateful day. He'd said she'd never believe where his hometown was. Well, Lemuria wasn't a legend to her. Making an excuse to get away from her companions, the pink skinned girl wandered through the town, not sure if she should be hoping to see him again. If anything, he'd at least be a change from the company of the two morons she'd been stuck with for the last month.

Going through marketplace after market place it was turning out to be another lost cause. Or so it seemed until she caught a flash of turquoise exiting a store. Sure enough, it was Piers, his arms laden with supplies for what looked like a long sea voyage. She hastened her pace and caught up with him.

"Oh, it's you again, Karst was it? I'm sorry about your sister," he shifted his load in his arms.

Karst looked down, "Thanks… she was… important to me…" Karst swallowed back her anger. "So, about your hometown, would that be Lemuria?"

"What makes you bring that up all of a sudden?" She didn't respond and he realized she was changing the topic in order not to snap, "Yes, you're right. Lemuria. I'd never left it in my entire life until a giant tidal wave caught my ship. Granted I was leaving anyways, but that landed me in a bit of trouble."

"Tidal wave? That was caused by the Venus Lighthouse being lit… that was my sister's work…"

"Maybe her sacrifice was what brought us together," Piers spoke before he realized what he'd said. "Oh, I mean… I'm sorry…" he turned his yellow eyes to the ground.

"Huh? I guess… I guess that could be true… still, that doesn't excuse Isaac for what he did," an icy tone crept back into her voice.

"Oh, well, I suppose it wouldn't." Piers agreed half-heartedly. He couldn't put himself in her shoes, but wasn't sure that revenge was the right way to go about this.

Again silence overtook the two, but neither really minded, the silent companionship was perhaps what both were longing deep inside. Karst walked alongside the taller man back to his ship. "Do you have time for a quick drink? I'll treat," Piers offered after he had stowed away his supplies. His bright yellow eyes looked in hers.

"I'm afraid I'm on an urgent errand," she looked away. In truth, she probably had the time, but she wasn't sure she should be getting as close as she was to this man.

"I see. That's too bad. I guess I'll see you around then," Piers knew encountering Karst again would happen; after all they had the same goal; saving the world.

The young woman left with hastened steps. Try as she might she couldn't push his disappointed face from her mind.

"Hey Karst! Where were you?" asked Agaito when she met them further in town.

"I told you, just looking around."

"Quite the tourist, aren't you?" teased Alex. Karst glared at him wondering if he'd figured her mini-quest out. "Anyways, come, there are people we need to see."

The threesome wandered around town, Alex and Agaito eagerly leading the way with Karst absent-mindedly following behind. Piers's words echoed in her mind, "Maybe her sacrifice brought us together?" Try as she might, Karst couldn't really envision it that way, but she supposed it was possible. But her sister hadn't been a sacrifice; she'd been murdered. And Isaac would pay.

"There they are," said Alex and pointed at an all too familiar group.

"Felix again," mumbled Karst. Right now she wanted to burn Isaac to a crisp, but that thought slipped from her mind as she saw Piers standing beside Felix. Things clicked into place as Karst realized a possible mistake in her friendship with him. Things could get complicated. If he got in her way of revenge as she was sure everyone else in Felix's group would, she wasn't sure what would happen.

After Alex was satisfied that Felix's group hadn't forgotten the quest of the lighthouses, he headed off to the docks, Agaito following closely behind. Karst reluctantly walked behind them after a quick glance behind her. Piers caught the glance and understood that from here on out things could get quite messy.

---

Again, time passed before they next encountered each other. Contigo had a large inn, despite being a smaller city. The wooden structure stood in the center of town and was a great gathering spot for all sorts of travelers. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise to Karst when she found Piers there, but she had hoped Felix's group would have already been at the lighthouse a few miles north.

She had opened the door to the inn and walked over to the counter before noticing the turquoise haired Lemurian sitting by the window alone looking distant. Curious as to what was bothering him, she walked in his direction. That and she really needed someone else to talk to after being forced to endure Alex and Agaito's antics. Upon reaching the city however, the three had split up. Agaito to get supplies, Karst just because she needed space, and Alex, well, no one ever knew what he was up to.

Piers did not look up as the pink girl approached the table or as she pulled the chair opposite of his out and took a seat. The trip to Lemuria still weighed heavily on his mind. It'd been a little over a week since he'd come back but the events still weighed heavily on his mind.

Karst sat with the Mercury Adept in silence. She ordered herself some tea. He ignored all of her activity until at one point he let out a sigh. Karst felt like screaming, here was her one refuge from Agaito and Alex, and he was ignoring her! Suddenly she slammed a gloved hand on the table. "Out with it! What the heck is wrong with you?"

The whole inn when silent for a moment as all attention was drawn to the black-clad woman.

"Agh, forget it. I was wrong to hope this would help me," she got up and turned to leave, the last thing she needed right now was people staring at her. At the door she paused for a moment and looked back at Piers. He looked to be in much pain and despair. Apparently he wasn't good at dealing with this. Then she noticed what he was drinking. "Oh boy," she muttered and walked back to the table, "Don't you think that's a little strong?"

This time he looked up. His yellow eyes were unclear. "K-karst?" he asked, unsure.

"Yeah. I'm here," She retorted angrily, unsure as to why exactly she felt compelled to console him.

Suddenly his eyes became more focused and he smiled a bit. "You looked concerned about me."

"Would it be wrong of me? You're drinking pretty heavily," she glared at the glass in his hand. She despised the whole concept of getting drunk; it was an occasional event of Agaito's.

Piers gave a half-hearted laugh, "No, this isn't alcoholic. It's just some water I brought back from Lemuria with me."

"What? You mean I was all concerned for nothing? Then why do you look so miserable?"

"I guess I shouldn't be… I knew it was coming."

"What was?" Karst's patience was wearing thin.

"My mother. She died while I was away."

"I, uh, oh. I'm… sorry," the magenta haired warrior apologized. She could relate all too well… after Menardi's death she'd been depressed, and still was, but instead of sadness she expressed it as anger. And her anger was fueled at one person; Isaac. Vengance was getting closer and she could feel it. However, unlike her, Piers had no one to fuel anger against, unless…

"You aren't blaming yourself, are you?" she asked.

"What?"

"For her death," Karst looked him in the eyes, but he avoided her gaze.

"Of course not."

"Denied."

"Fine. A little."

"Why, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was. I left and her weak heart couldn't take the thought of losing her only son. Death in Lemuria is very uncommon after all. Maybe that's why she took it so hard, and why I'm taking it so hard. Still though…"

The poor sap looked like he was about to cry, noted Karst.

"Look, I don't mean to be harsh, but life goes on. The world still needs us to release alchemy. We can mourn afterwards. Not now," she looked at him and then out the window. The sun was setting down into the west. "I need to get going."

"Does this mean you aren't after Isaac anymore?"

"No," she paused and got up, "He'll still pay for what he did."

"Then does that make it any different than me blaming myself? He fought for what was right and so did your sister."

"Tch. Look, Piers. I like you. Just don't get in my way and don't waste your life in misery." That said, Karst left the inn and walked through the streets of town wondering just how soft she was going.

Piers sat in the inn watching the sunset from the window, the strange woman's words playing through his mind. "I like you," just what had she meant by that?

---

The next morning dawn rose before Karst did. "Morning sleepy head," mused Agaito as she exited from her tent.

She glowered and began to pack up her stuff.

"In a rush?"

"I'm getting my revenge today, I can feel it," Karst stated in a determined voice as she looked up at the tall purple tower of the Jupiter Lighthouse.

---

Sure enough, as Karst had known, vengeance was about to be hers. After snaring two members of Isaac's group in a cunning trap, she and Agaito now were facing only the Venus and Jupiter Adpets. Both of the warrior were mere boys in Karst's opinion. How could her sister have lost to them? In a matter of minutes Karst had the two down on the ground, out cold, but still alive. Karst hesitated for a moment, Piers's words come back at her.

Agatio, unaware of his companion's hesitation and still in the frenzy of battle lifted his sword above Isaac's head and readied for a final blow.

"Hold it!" yelled a voice from the doorway. It was Felix and his group.

"We won't let you kill them!" yelled one of the girls.

Agaito moved his sword away from the fallen Venus Adept. "What's the meaning of this, Felix? Hurry up and light the beacon!"

Karst looked over at the group, "We've cleared the way, now go!" Her eyes met with a familiar set of yellow ones.

"We're not going without Isaac!" protested the blonde girl, Sheba.

Agaito and Felix's group quarreled while Karst and Piers had a stare down. Each trying to convince the other of their way. What was actually a few seconds in reality felt like eons to the both of them. "Agaito. Let them go," she looked at Felix, his brown eyes wide in surprise.

"Wait, Karst… what did you say?" asked her equally surprised comrade.

"Do with Isaac as you will. We'll see you at the top of the lighthouse and bring the Mars Star with you, understand?" the fire in her eyes still blazed with fury as she spoke to Felix. Hastily, she turned on her heel and stalked off up the stairs with a speechless Agaito in tow. Why had she broken down? What was that insignificant Mercury Adept to her? A friend? A crush? "No, that's ridiculous!" she shouted half way up a staircase and took off running before Agatio could understand what she'd said.

She reached the top long before Agaito. Panting she walked over to the huge basin. Soon, she thought, it would be blazing bright with the Jupiter Star. Part of her mind was urging her to go back and finish Isaac, but it's yells of indignation were now being drowned out by her common sense. The world depended more on the lighthouse than she did on her revenge. Now, if only Agatio and Felix would get up here she could leave this whole mess behind.

Agatio emerged from the light house and crossed the aerie to where his companion stood. "Soon, this will be over and Prox will be saved," his thoughts crossed the same lines her were currently running on.

"Assuming it hasn't already fallen off the map while were gone," both knew time was of the essence. The next thing to fall off the edge of the world would be the Mars Lighthouse and if that happened… well, no one really wanted to think of that.

"There they are, like they said," an unexpected voice broke through Karst's thoughts like an arrow to her heart. Piers had come with Felix. Why had he?

Wordlessly she and Agatio stepped aside of the beacon allowing the dark haired Venus Adept access. He pulled out a shiny purple orb out of a shiny mithril bag. Everyone winced as a wave of power swept over them before Felix expertly tossed it into the opening. A sudden earthquake shook the tower violently, throwing all the onlookers to their knees.

"Amazing…" Agaito watched awestruck as did everyone else. A purple light burst forth from the beacon before a huge orb of purple matter assembled in the empty space above the beacon.

"One more to go," noted Felix.

Agatio took a fighting stance, "Got that right."

Again, shock and bewilderment crossed Felix's face, but he overcame it quickly and pulled out his sword.

"I don't like the looks of this," stated Piers, brandishing his own sword.

Karst picked up her scythe and got to her feet to face the last person in Weyard she wanted to fight. Her eyes said an apology, but her voice was steady, "That's right, the final lighthouse is in Prox."

An evil grin crossed the blue man's face, "And that means we don't need you anymore."

"Time to die, Felix!" Karst yelled swinging her scythe full force at him. Felix blocked with a wall of earth and conjured another tremor. While she tried to keep her balance, he took the opportunity to go for her head. A sudden swell of flames sprung up as Agaito covered his partner. With a yell he punched a powerful fist full of flames into Felix's direction. The Venus Adept was forced to take several steps backwards before he was able to counter with a spire of Earth.

Piers stared at Karst, wondering what to do. He couldn't attack her and he couldn't leave his friend fighting by himself.

"C'mon," shouted Karst, "Fight for your life! For what you believe for!" she hadn't shouted them just for his benefit. Her soul too, needed to be reassured of its goals. Summoning all the power she could, the pink skinned woman ignited the air around her in a mass torrent of flames. She'd end this fast, though she wasn't sure she could live down the results of her actions afterwards, but she'd do her best.

Piers was still hesitating when her sweeping attack came. In an instant he created a column of water that took the brunt of her attack. Then, using his sword, he deflected her deadly scythe before it had a chance to relive him of his head.

"Heh, not bad, but can you do it again?" Karst was talking big, in truth she could easily do that attack again, but right now she lacked the will power. Instead she raised a pillar of fire directly under the turquoise haired warrior's feet. He dodged swiftly, but instead of side stepping, as she expected, Piers charged in at her, his bandana blowing behind him. His sword and her scythe met in with a clash of metal and the hiss of steam. It was then they both mad ethe mistake of looking into each other's eyes. Yellow met red as always and instantly all the will to battle one another drained away. Tearing apart their gazes, Karst went for Felix's unprotected side as Piers charged in at Agaito's back with a powerful blast of ice.

Agaito noticed just in time as he turned and quickly melted the ice with a fireball and hit Piers full force in the stomach with a powerful fist. The Mercury Adept let out a gasp and fell to the ground; all the air had been knocked out of him.

Felix hadn't been so lucky. He'd managed to block Karst's scythe again, but this time he couldn't block her fire at a close range. He stumbled backwards and collapsed on the ground.

Karst moved forward and took the mythril bag that contained the remaining star and moved to Agaito's side.

"Well, that was a surprise, I didn't expect them to be so strong," Agaito stepped towards the unconscious form of Piers. He glanced at her, something in the way she looked at the unconscious figure on the floor wasn't right. Where was the fury she normally held?

Alex suddenly came running out onto the aerie. "Time to go! If we don't leave before Isaac gets here we won't ever get out of here."

Agaito lowered his stance and looked at Karst. She was still staring distantly at the unconscious form of Piers on the floor. It had all become clear during her their fight; she loved him. Agaito didn't know or really care where or how they'd met, but he knew two things the first being she'd never admit it. His companion thought love and affection towards your opponents to be for the foolish. The second thing he knew was that they really needed to get out of here before the others showed up.

"Come on!" shouted Alex. Agaito grabbed Karst by the wrist and pulled her towards the now operational elevator.

"Karst," Agaito addressed her.

She looked up dully, "I'm… an idiot…" she admitted after studying the expression in his eyes.

"Aren't we all?" he responded. In truth, Agaito had feelings for Karst, but had taken her for granted. Now it seemed he'd lost out. Well, she wasn't the only girl in Prox, but she was the only one who could kick his butt in a fight.

---

The trio made it back to the ship and untied it mechanically. Alex took the helm, while Karst hung over the railing outside looking like she was going to be sea-sick. Inside her mind she was waging war against her revenge seeking self and the strong possibility of being in love with a man she'd almost had to kill. Agaito looked at her and then to Alex and shrugged. Neither of the guys really knew what to do with the inwardly raging woman.

They sailed northward, stopping the ship when they reached the icy coast surrounding their homelands. It'd be a full day's trek across the land to the snow-bound town of Prox. Not a word was spoken as the trio pulled out the supplies they'd need for the voyage. Karst looked at the desolate white landscape in front of her. It stretched on forever, or so it seemed. The air was filled with snow and the occasional strong gust of wind blew. From here on out it only got worse. "After we light the Mars Lighthouse, do you think we'll see spring?" the normally angry warrior asked her blue comrade.

He thought about it for awhile, before the seals had been put on alchemy, had Prox seen spring?

"I'm sure it's a possibility," stated Alex, "after all, it should stop the world from disintegrating."

"Does spring matter?" asked Agaito after giving up on the question, "Shouldn't we be more concerned with saving our village first."

"I was," anger seeped back into Karst's voice. "I'm sick of this winter." She hastened her steps. "Come on, we're losing the only light we're going to have."

They walked on; the sun abandoned them after a few hours. At first the night sky was clear and lit with a multitude of stars and galaxies. The blues and greens of the distant sky lights only reminded Karst of Piers even more. She kept walking, knowing she'd never see him again; his group would never be able to cross this white hell and find Prox without freezing to death. The sight was beautiful, but short lived. Clouds soon came and replaced the sky full of hope with dread and despair. The snow fell at varying levels as did the wind from strong gusts that threatened to blow them over to gale force winds that prevent them from moving. Still they moved forward. Prox needed saving and Karst was convinced if she got back home she could forget all about anything outside of the village. Saving the world came first, did it not?

---

Several hours later, three white crusted figures entered into the town of Prox. It was late afternoon and the sun was already sinking low on the horizon. Karst determinedly led the way to the mayor's house. The trio entered without knocking or bothering to dust themselves off. Once inside the Mars Adepts simply released enough psyenergy to sublimate the snow from themselves. Alex, however, not being able to perform such a feat, moved by the fireplace and proceeded to drip dry.

Footsteps came hurriedly down the staircase, "Ah, Karst? I wasn't expecting to see you back. Did you find your sister?"

"My sister is dead," Karst's tone was deadly icy. She didn't want to be reminded of that fact.

"I see. That's unfortunate. Anyways, did you need something?" the mayor asked.

Agaito pulled out the mythril bag, "We retrieved the Mars star. Now we can save the village!" he held the bag up high as excitement rang through his voice.

The mayor gave a soft smile. "I just hope we are not too late."

"Right, we'll depart right away," Karst said in a monotone. Her sense of dread renewing itself. Shouldn't she be excited, her journey was almost over. The world would be saved! Why couldn't she be happy.

"You should wait until tomorrow morning. Something tells me you haven't eaten or slept at all since you left your ship. We need you to be in top shape so you can climb the lighthouse."

Karst was about to protest when Alex spoke, "That's a good idea. We'll do that."

"What if we don't have time? If the lighthouse falls-"

"It won't."

"How do you know?" demanded Karst. The whole reason they'd rushed back to Prox was because of the ever nearing doom of the world.

"I'm in agreement with Alex, Karst," Agaito stepped forth. "Besides, what good will it do us if we're too exhausted by the time we get inside? I think we'll be safe if we wait until morning."

"Fine," the warrior conceded.

The trio left the mayor's residence and went to Karst's house. The house was dark and cold since no one had been in it since she'd left to find Menardi. Karst's stuff was strewn here and there while her sister's belongings were neatly stacked off in their appropriate locations. "There's food in the pantry," looked around the home, it was so empty without her sister, "I'll be in my room." She climbed the stairs leaving the other two to rummage through the pantry.

Upstairs she turned her back to her sister's half of the room and sat at her desk, thinking. Pulling out a drawer she rummaged through it until she found a piece of parchment and a frozen jar of ink. Carefully, she heated the ink in her hand until she could write with it.

---

Back downstairs Agaito and Alex had prepared a mini-feast. Both were quite hungry and anything that Karst had in her pantry looked delicious. "Think she'll join us?" asked Alex.

Agaito shrugged, "I've never seen her act like this. Being around Menardi's stuff must be causing her some stress." The blue man knew this wasn't the whole reason for her actions, but it was still a major factor.

The two ate in silence; both were too tired to make much conversation.

"I'm going to take some up to Karst," Agaito loaded a plate with a good amount of food and ascended the stairs. "Karst? I brought you some food!" he called.

She didn't answer.

"Oh," said Agaito as he found her asleep at her desk. She'd knocked over her ink well, but it was frozen solid again. Agaito put the tray of food on an empty corner of the desk. He looked over her shoulder to see what she'd been writing, however, her head was covering it completely. For a moment he considered trying to get it, but the consequences for reading it were probably higher than he wanted to risk. Silently he left the room.

---

Two hours before dawn Karst woke up to find the now cold tray of food in front of her. She warmed it up and quickly ate it. Today was the day. The day the world would be saved! Her town would be saved and everyone could stop living in fear of falling off the edge! Still the premonition she'd held last night loomed over her, but she shoved it from her mind as she walked downstairs to find Agaito and Alex already up and apparently waiting for her.

"Ready?" asked her childhood friend.

She nodded her response and the trio left the sleepy town for the dark stormy fields in front of the light house.

---

The red building towered overhead as the group reached the entrance just as the sun's rays crept over the mountainous horizon. The world's edge was also in sight. A thick mist rose from where the Gaia Falls had eroded the crust of the world.

The giant doors of the lighthouse swung open thank to the presence of the two Mars Adepts. They entered to find the whole place frozen solid. "This… could take awhile…" murmured Karst.

Alex split off from the main group and wandered around looking for a way not blocked with ice. Karst didn't feel like calling after him, her own thoughts were occupied with other things at the moment than as to her companion's true intentions.

"Karst… what is that?" Agaito sounded startled, something he never did.

She turned around to see what he was looking at. A floating round rock with a single eye was looking directly at them.

"You lack the will to go further; it is clearly etched in your soul. I shall not let you go onwards from here."

Suddenly the world went black. "No… I can't die here…" Karst wanted to scream but found herself unable.

---

Incomprehensible speech was the next thing she heard. "…can't be…" Felix and his large group of comrades were looking down on them.

"Karst, what are we doing on the floor?" muttered Agatio.

She didn't respond, something was clearly wrong with this picture she'd awoken to. Piers was looking down on her from above.

"Why…?" he asked. As the image came more into focus she realized he was crying. He held her hand in his own larger ones.

"I… feel… cold..? But that can't be, I'm supposed to be immune to the cold," she said confused.

"Karst… I think we're going to die up here…" said Agaito.

A sad smile crept across her face, "So this is how it all ends? How pathetic."

"No! Don't say that Karst," said Piers. Similar protests came from the other members of the group.

She let out an icy chuckle, "Whatever happened to hating us? After all we did try to kill you all."

"But you didn't," protested Piers. "You could have back on Jupiter Lighthouse, but you didn't."

Her red eyes looked at him, "Don't cry, Piers, it makes you look weak. Besides, you need to finish this up. Light the lighthouse. Save the world," her voice grew stronger.

He looked at her hopefully.

"Don't let me die in vain. Please. I need to see that beacon lit," she hated pleading, but she lacked the energy to do anything more. "Go! Now! There isn't much time!" she shouted when he didn't move.

Piers knelt down closer and put his arms around her.

"W-what are you doing?! You can't carry me to the top! I'll only slow you down, fool! Leave me here. I'm not going anywhere!"

He ignored her pleas and easily lifted her up into his arms.

"What of Agaito? Will you just leave my comrade to die alone?"

Felix approached Piers. "I don't want to say it, but she's right. We can't climb this lighthouse with these two as they are."

Piers looked at his comrade sadly.

"Well, at least we can move them to somewhere better than the middle of the floor," stated the red-haired girl, Jenna as she, Isaac, and Garret moved Agaito to a wall and put him in a sitting position.

Piers carried the limp form of Karst over to the wall. "I'll be back. Don't die while I'm gone. We'll light this Light House and come back for you. Promise."

She smiled sadly again. "Sure. I'll wait."

He took his large bandana out of his hair and draped it over her. Before running off to catch up with the rest.

This wasn't fair, she thought long after he'd gone. After finally admitting the one thing she never thought she ever would, she was going to die. And the worst part was, he returned her feelings although neither one had said as much. Karst sat in against the wall Piers had placed her, looking at the red tiled floor under her and Agaito's faint breathing. To have come so far only to fail, in the end… why did it have to end like this? The cold feeling crept over her more and she felt her mind slipping into darkness.

"What… are you… doing?" asked Agaito slowly.

"Trying… to… get… something…" her hands were not cooperating with her mind as she attempted to get something from a pocket. Her hand finally reached what she'd been going for after a few long torturous minutes. The soft crumple of parchment was quite audible in the silence that surrounded the two fallen warriors. Carefully, as to avoid tearing it, Karst pulled out the parchment from her pocket and held it in her hand as if it were a very treasured item.

"Is… that… what…" Agaito started, unable to get much further.

"Yeah…" said Karst. She had hoped she'd get the chance to burn this letter in her hand, but she doubted she could conjure enough to even enough psyenergy to light even the smallest of candles.

The lighthouse suddenly shook with tremendous force as a bright red light flared and went out. Karst's limp form fell to the floor, but she still managed to hold onto the paper.

"I… guess… they… did it…" Agaito murmured and felt silent; a content smile on his face.

Karst smiled as well as she clutched the paper firmly one last time before her grip slackened forever.

---

"Piers! Hold on! What's the rush for?" yelled Jenna.

The Mercury Adept ignored his comrade's question and ran down the stairs, completely forgetting that the elevators were now operational. "Karst!" He yelled after running down many staircases. "Karst!" he yelled again seeing her lying on the floor. "No," his voice was a whisper, "No!" he yelled. Running over he knelt on the floor next to her body to find it as cold as the surroundings. "Not you too…" the muscular man was sobbing again. He picked up her limp form and held it close in a futile embrace.

The piece of parchment slipped from her dead grasp and crumpled on the floor.

Not bothering to put her down, Piers picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. An aggressive, yet neat script was all over the paper.

_"Piers,_

_I'm writing this just in case. Today, I have an overwhelming sense of dread that something terrible is going to happen tomorrow and I can't get it out of my head. The same thing happened the first time I met you. That was before I'd found out about my sister's death. I'm sorry that I ever felt mad about your explanation for her sacrifice leading to our meeting. Maybe your mother helped that happen too. Sorry if that sounds a bit cold-hearted, or if you took offense when I told you to stop moping. I really can't stand it when others show signs of weakness, but that now makes me a hypocrite if you in fact get the chance to read it. I'm burning it otherwise. My candle is running out, so I'm going to finish this here. I think I might like you. No, I know I do. I love you. Which is the possibly the worst mistake of my life, but it's too late to worry about that. If, I in fact, die tomorrow, will you bury me somewhere spring comes? I hate the winter snow I've endured for my entire life. Yours, if I live, and forever in spirit if not, _

_Karst."_


End file.
